Jennifer Dobbs, an assistant professor of developmental studies in Purdue’s Department of Child Development and Family Studies, has an interesting perspective on bedtime reading:

“There’s nothing wrong
with a bedtime story,” Dobbs said. “Kids thrive on routines and
rituals, but it would be too bad if the only experience a child had of
being read to was when they’re expected to drift off to sleep.”

Instead, she advocates using dialogic reading techniques with children, interjecting questions and pointing out details in the pictures to start a conversation.  Well, perhaps I’m just strange but that is the way I always read aloud, even at bedtime.  🙂   I’ve always felt that reading aloud is a place where we can talk and interact, sometimes to the point that as the minutes tick by I have to stop the conversation and get back to the story!  But then I do the full set of funny voices with stories as well…

Anyone else here read using dialogic techniques without even knowing it?

HarperCollins has announced that in conjunction with the Olympics in Beijing, they will be publishing a series by Yang Hongying, Chinese bestselling author of children’s books.  I am always happy to see books from other countries being brought into the U.S.  I think that they serve as real windows into a culture, especially when they are contemporary stories.  So often we view other cultures through books set in the past.  This should be a refreshing change.

Barnes & Noble has a very active Kid Lit Book Club on their website.  It is done using a forum format that combines open conversations about broad topics with monthly focused book clubs on specific authors or titles.  If you take a look, each subject has thousands of views!  Whew!  Lots of recommended reading flying around.